Dreaming
by liekanime
Summary: This time, both of you will get a good look at my back. And she ran past them. [SasuSaku]
1. They Came Back

Sakura stood by the village doors, decked out in her ANBU uniform. She was going to leave for her first ANBU mission, with her new squad.

That was until someone, scratch that. Two Shinobi showed up.

She had trained herself for this moment, even passed the ANBU exam with this skill.

To not show emotions.

"_Emotions is what makes a Shinobi weak."_

"_**Weak."**_

Naruto limped towards the village, with a certain missing nin in tow. The blonde collapsed as soon as he stepped foot into the village, Sasuke whose arm which was around Naruto's shoulder staggered and fell to his knees beside the blonde.

Sakura and her team watched on, no one made a move. Eyes wide in disbelief.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whispered, looking up from the ground with a large grin and a peace sign. "I brought him back. I promised you I would."

She was not going to cry.

Sasuke was staring at her and she knew he was anticipating her reaction. He had viewed her as an useless annoying fangirl who cried and sought protection from her teammates.

Oh how wrong he was.

Sakura took a step closer to Naruto. Breathing in and pinching her self it was made clear that this was not a dream. They were back.

Sakura walked right past Sasuke much to his surprise, no matter how much he tried to hide it. She trained for years to detect the slightest change and easily picked up how Sasuke's eyes had widen before he regained his composure.

A hand shot out and grabbed Sakura's wrist.

"Haruno-san. What are you doing?" An ANBU with an Eagle mask spoke, his tone gentle and hard at the same time.

"Don't worry Neji-san, just going to heal his wounds, he'll never make it to Tsunada-sama's office in that condition." She replied.

Neji nodded and retreated back to their team as Sakura crouched down beside Naruto.

Sakura kept silent as she placed one hand on Naruto's injured leg, and her other hand roamed a centimeter above Naruto's body, looking for any more injuries. He must have gotten these wounds from Sasuke.

"Broken Leg, dislocated shoulder, 3 broken ribs, minor kunai wounds." Sakura reported.

Naruto almost did a double take. "S-Sakura-chan…you're a medic nin now…?"

"You'll be surprised how much can happened in 6 years, Na-Uzumaki-san."

Sakura swore she could see any little hope in Naruto's eyes slowly diminishing.

"I'll heal your leg and ribs. Then the rest can be patched up at the hospital."

"Haruno-san." Neji said. "We have to leave now, they can fix themselves." he sneered at Sasuke who turned to glare at him.

"Maximum time?" Sakura asked.

Neji sighed. "Five minutes."

Sakura nodded and turned back to Naruto, she mended the bones and tweaked them back into position.

"Uchiha." Sakura said, motioning with her head for him to come over.

"I'm fine." he replied stubborn.

"Did it look like I gave your a choice?" Sakura asked raising a brow.

Sasuke's eye twitched as he stayed put. He wasn't going to let someone useless heal him. Who knows what she would do. They didn't exactly part that nicely either. Yet Naruto looked like he was truly out of pain…

"No."

"Fine with me." Sakura stood up not bothering to help Naruto off the floor. "Sorry Neji-san. Lets go now." Then she walked out the village beside Neji while their Squad followed. Already she was chatting to the Hyuga as if she had never seen her team mates who left her back when they were thirteen.

Sasuke hated to admit but he wanted her to turn back.

To turn back and at least give them a sign that she cared about them.

"_Sasuke-kun, I love you so much!"_

"_If you stay I can make you happy! Everyday will be fun!"_

He swallowed, wanting to clench his fist but he had a few broken knuckles, from punching Naruto's leg so hard he broke it.

Sasuke observed her from the back. She had grown taller of course. She just reached Neji's shoulders. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and reached the same length as Neji's. As much as he found that humorous he wasn't in any mood to laugh. And she was wearing an ANBU uniform, her tattoo was an aqua blue and was printed on her left shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, She got prettier. Don't you think teme?" Naruto was already standing up.

Sasuke didn't answer that. _What a stupid question._ The raven haired genin thought.

They both stood by the village doors and watched as Neji's squad leaped up into the trees and took off west.

"Ne, How strong do you think Sakura-chan is now?" Naruto asked.

"Probably still weak."

"But she's ANBU now."

"She isn't the type to kill." Sasuke said. Convincing himself that was another thing.

"When she healed me," Naruto looked sheepishly at the ground. "it felt really warm."

"Healing chakra can't be warm dobe." Sasuke retorted.

"Says the one who's only ever been healed by Kabuto and Karin."

"Just shut up." Sasuke hissed.

The sun was now starting to rise, two voices started creeping closer.

"Man! My head's hurting." Someone cried.

"Well stop drinking so much when you know we an early watch." The second voice replied.

Both males.

"Huh? OI! Stay back!" The second voice whispered. "I see two people up there."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled running forward to meet the two Shinobi.

"Idiot." Sasuke muttered but followed anyway.

"NARUTO!?"

The two males who were on watch shrieked as they hugged each other.

Genma and Aoba.

"What the fu-"

"GENMA DON'T YOU DARE MOVE! YOU'RE HAVING A HANG OVER, I'LL DEAL WITH THEM!" Aoba yelled.

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed moving forward.

"Move any closer Uzumaki and we'll have ANBU's here to chain you both down." Aoba narrowed his eyes. Even though they couldn't see since he had his trademark shades.

"What do you mean!?" Naruto growled, although he had the brains to know that he should follow this stranger's order.

"Has it slipped your mind that you left the village in pursue of Sasuke Uchiha." Genma looked over at the silent raven haired Uchiha. "And haven't been seen for the past six years."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Genma continued.

"You, Uzumaki Naruto have been acclaimed dead for two years already."


	2. Stronger Then They Think

Naruto blinked and sat up, feeling pain shoot through his dislocated shoulder which Sakura didn't heal. It hurt, but he could deal with pain.

Sitting up he looked around the room. It was so white…the walls were white and the floor was white too. Looking at the bed sheets Naruto cringed. It was also white.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?" He yelled shooting across the room and tried to twist open the white door with the white doorknob.

"Do you have to be so loud? So troublesome." A pineapple shaped head peeped through the window, to Naruto's left. "Yo."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto rejoiced and tapped at the glass. "Hey where am I?"

"In a cell." Shikamaru replied bored. "What?" He asked as Naruto's jaw went slacked.

"SO I'M IN JAIL!?"

"Did you think after disappearing for six years we were going to let you wander around Konoha?"

"…Well…no but-!"

"You don't understand anything right now. Just…keep quiet." Shikamaru said. "I'm in charge of guarding this door and I'm trying to sleep okay?"

Naruto felt sick to his stomach. "Okay." He knew that he was gone for so long, did everyone have to keep reminding him? He had his reasons for defying the hokage's orders.

He had been sent on the mission to retrieve Sasuke but instead of returning to the village with everyone he continued looking. His betrayal paid off. He brought Sasuke back.

Naruto sat back on the white bed and finally had a good look at himself.

Running around without a mirror it really surprised him when he saw his reflection in the mirror across the room.

His blonde hair was disheveled, he had been stripped of his orange jumpsuit and now he was wearing a white T-shirt and simple (thankfully not white) black shorts. He touched his cheek and felt the whisker like marks on his face. His skin was at least a few shades darker now. If his estimation was correct he had to be at least 180 cm. Give or take.

He looked almost nothing like his thirteen year old self.

Lying back down one arm around his head while the other laid painfully at his side. He stared at the white ceiling.

A knock on the door jolted Naruto awake. _Wait, I fell asleep__…_

"Uzumaki Naruto." There at the doorway was Shikamaru beside Tsunade who looked absolutely furious. "Welcome back." She growled stomping into the room.

"Baa-chan-"

"IS THAT WHAT YOU THOUGHT I WOULD SAY!?" She cried.

_I wouldn't be surprised if she strangled me right now._ Naruto gulped.

"For God's sake Uzumaki! You're a jinchuuriki! You don't go running around for-"

'SIX YEARS I KNOW!" Naruto snapped. "Tell me something I don't know!"

Tsunade didn't miss a beat. "You and Uchiha have every right to be executed."

The blonde paused before speaking almost whispering. "And you're actually going to let them Baa-chan?"

"I never said you will be." The Hokage replied. "The Council would never let the Jinchuuriki die neither the last Uchiha."

"Sasuke told you." Naruto blurted out. "You know."

"Of course he told us. We know the story."

"Then…?"

"Don't sound so hopeful blockhead." Tsunade snorted and waved Shikamaru forward. "Not everyone's going to take it well. Explain Shikamaru."

"Troublesome. When a Shinobi leaves on a mission and does not return with their team, unless they are reported dead, they have a total of four years to return. If they do not return to their village they will be proclaimed dead." Shikamaru stated.

Naruto was in shock and didn't respond, this was the second time he was told about his status. But it still felt like a punch in the gut.

"If you can't do the maths," the Hokage said. "it means two years ago we labelled you _dead_."

Naruto nodded feeling shaky. "How did-"

"How did everyone take it?" A new voice joined them a bark followed.

Kiba walked into the room, hands in his pockets a wolfish sneer directed at Naruto.

Akamaru, Naruto noticed, was nothing like their thirteen year old days.

"Let's see, well hmm… Sakura cried enough to match the amount of rain in a day at the Rain Village. Most of us moped for a few days. We all tried to comfort Sakura. Kakashi almost gave up teaching because he once again lost his students. Akamaru kept sitting by the tree where we have our names carved in." Kiba kept his tone cold. "Should I continue?"

Naruto closed his eyes and let himself fall back onto the bed, he covered his eyes with one arm. "No. I get it."

Why the hell is everything so white?

Sasuke groaned and rolled onto his side, his head throbbed.

His vision blurred, blinking didn't help.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He could sense strong chakra from outside his door, if they were his comrades back when they were thirteen, the gap of time prevented him from recognising it.

His mind wandered to Sakura, what was she doing now?

"Probably holding back her teammates." He muttered to himself.

Sakura sneezed.

She had a feeling someone was bitching about her.

"Well screw them." She hissed.

Her opponent raised his eyebrow. "What?"

Sakura smirked and pulled out a kunai. "I said screw you." She lied.

"You are one little bitch aren't you?" The Rain ninja hissed as he leaped back and formed a few hand signs. "Water Style:Black Rain!"

Sakura laughed jumping back, this jutsu wasn't new to her. She saw it before and already anticipated his next move.

Her new teammates were busy fending off their opponents but Sakura didn't rely on her comrades protection anymore. The rain ninja was already forming another juts. But Sakura had trained to improve her speed so she executed a jutsu one second faster.

"Water Style:Raging Waves."

A gush of water was released but it wasn't aimed at her opponent.

The oil he had spread was washed away.

The rain ninja's eye's widened but he didn't have time to stop his next move.

"Fire Style:Fire Dragon Bullet."

Sakura grinned and using her heeled shoes she tapped at the ground and with her inhuman strength, had the ground breaking in the path she wanted.

Her teammates were undisturbed by the rumbling ground for they were already aware of what she could do. They merely leaped up and landed on a tree far away.

All enemy ninjas were buried underneath rocks.

Mission:Scout Fire Border and eliminate enemy ninjas?

Success.

Sakura couldn't stop the grin from spreading on her face.

This was her first trial mission to see if she was up for doing this on a weekly and maybe even daily basis. Judging by Neji's nod since she couldn't see the smile underneath his mask she could say that she did it.

One step closer to being an official ANBU.

Sasuke and Naruto?

One step closer to being allowed to keep their Genin status.

Weak little Haruno on the almightily Team 7 just left her team mates in the dust.


End file.
